Dioceses of Saint Thomas of Mylapore - Creation of The Diocese

Creation of The Diocese

At the instance of King Philip II of Portugal, on 9 January 1606 Pope Paul V separated the Kingdom of Tanjore and the territories to the north of the Cauvery River and bordering the Bay of Bengal, from the Diocese of Cochin and constituted them a distinct diocese with Saint Thomas of Mylapur as the episcopal city and the parish church of Saint Thomas as the cathedral. At the same time the pope appointed Dom Sebastião de São Pedro, O.S.A., who had been presented by the King of Portugal, to be the first bishop of Saint Thomas of Mylapur, and granted Philip and his heirs and successors in perpetuity the right of patronage ("Padroado") and presentation to the see, and the benefices that might be created therein, by the mere facts of their creation and dotation. This right and obligation the Crown of Portugal has exercised and discharged to the end, by making the bishops a princely allowance, paying a certain number of priests' salaries, with periodical increases, leave with free passages and pensions, on the lines of the Portuguese Civil Service Code, and contributing to the support of a still larger number of priests on a graduated scale.

Bishop Sebastião de São Pedro arrived at Saint Thomas in 1611, but in 1614 was promoted to the See of Cochin. In 1615 he was succeeded by Luiz de Brito e Menezes, likewise an Augustinian, who was transferred in 1628 to the See of Cochin. His successor was Luiz Paulo Paulo de Estrela, O.S.F., appointed in 1634, who died at Saint Thomas on 9 January 1637. During the next fifty-six years the see continued vacant: though no less than nine personages were selected by the Crown for the honour, they either declined, were promoted or died before their election was confirmed by the Holy See; in the interval the diocese was governed by administrators selected chiefly from the various religious orders and appointed by the archbishops or vicars capitular sede vacante of Goa. As it was only natural that the members of the religious orders as also secular priests of other nations desired to share in the work of preaching the Gospel to the heathen, in 1622 Gregory XV created the Sacred Congregation de propaganda fide to distribute infidel regions among the religious orders and missionary societies of other nationalities as assistants to the local ordinaries, where there were any, and to supervise their operations. But occasionally the Congregation was misled, which was easy enough when geographical knowledge was neither as correct nor as extensive as at the present time and this occasioned trouble.

The foundations of the British Indian Empire were laid by Sir Francis Day in the sandy delta of a tiny river, some three and a half miles north of Saint Thomas, with the beginnings of Fort St. George. The British invited the Portuguese of pure and mixed descent to settle in the new township; and as the Portuguese were Catholics, they were ministered to by the clergy from Saint Thomas. In 1642, the Congregation of Propaganda sent out two French Capuchins to establish a mission in Burma. But when they, landing at Surat and travelling overland, reached Fort St. George, the British persuaded them not to go further, judging it prudent to have clergymen differing in nationality from, and independent of, the Portuguese ordinary at Saint Thomas to minister to the Catholics in their settlement. Accordingly, R. P. Ephraim', one of the two, wrote to the Sacred Congregation de propaganda fide that there was a prospect of reaping a larger harvest at Fort St. George and the fast rising native town of Madras that was beside it, than in Burma; and in the name of Urban VIII a prefecture Apostolic was established within three and a half miles of the cathedral of Saint Thomas. Ever after there were continual bickerings between the local ordinaries and the French Capuchins, the former insisting on the Capuchins acknowledging their jurisdiction, a claim which the latter, relying on their papal Brief, refused to recognize.

Both the Portuguese and the British had obtained their charters for their respective forts of Saint Thomas and St. George from the local Hindu chiefs. But as the Muslims extended their power southwards, before laying siege to Fort St. George, they took Saint Thomas. This was done with the help of the Dutch who bombarded the place from the sea. The Muslim forces began the work of demolishing saint Thomas' walls in January 1697. The Muslim governors then settled on the waste land, separating Saint Thomas from Mylapur, which was soon covered with the residences of Islamic settlers. These three townships exist as a European quarter, a Muslim quarter and a Hindu quarter. The name of Saint Thomas and that of Mylapur are often used interchangeably. Having reduced Saint Thomas and deprived it of its battlements, the Muslims did not further trouble the resident Portuguese, who regarded the place as still a Portuguese possession and managed its affairs with an elected council of which the ordinary of the place, for the time being, was the president.

The Jesuit Dom Gaspar Afonso Álvares was the fourth Bishop of Saint Thomas. His presentation was confirmed by the Holy See in 1691, and he was consecrated at Goa in 1693. In the meantime the Capuchins of the French Prefecture Apostolic of Fort St. George spread apace and took charge of the French settlement of Pondicherry. Not to offend the French, Dom Gaspar allowed them to minister to the Europeans and their descendants, but in order to assert his right, placed the Indian Christians in Pondicherry under the care of members of his own Society from France. This led to a number of complaints addressed to Rome about the interference of the Bishop of Saint Thomas of Mylapur with the work of the missionaries Apostolic, causing Clement XI, by his letters "Gaudium in Domino" of 1704, to issue an injunction restraining the missionaries from invading the rights of the diocesan. But the Congregation de propaganda fide issued a Decree in 1706 in support of its own missionaries, which reversed what the Pope had ordained. Under these circumstances the bishop again appealed to the pope, who, by the Brief "Non sine gravi" of 1711, annulled the Decree of the Congregation and reaffirmed the right of the diocesan to make what arrangements he chose at Pondicherry, which was situated within the limits of his diocese. Cardinal Charles-Thomas Maillard De Tournon, who was on his way to China as legate of the Holy See, having touched at Pondicherry, hearing of the doings of the Capuchins, placed the French Prefecture Apostolic of Madras, the name by which Fort St. George and its surroundings were coming to be known, under interdict. The Capuchins submitted forthwith and the interdict was removed.

In the meantime Dom Gaspar had died in 1708. Owing to his advancing years, he had been given a coadjutor with the right of succession, Dom Francisco Laynes, S.J., of the Madura mission, in the Diocese of Cochin. Dom Laynes was consecrated at Lisbon on 19 March 1708, as Bishop in partibus of Sozopolis. He came to India the same year, but did not take possession of his see until 1710. Though Bishop Laynes was Portuguese, the Portuguese Augustinians of Bandel defied his authority as their diocesan. He therefore placed Bandel under interdict on 14 July 1714; on the submission of the Augustinians the interdict was removed on 8 October 1714. Bishop Laynes died at Chandernagore in Bengal in 1715, and was succeeded by Manuel Sanches Golão, who was appointed in 1717 and reached India in 1719. Dom Manuel welcomed the Italian Barnabites as invaluable co-operators in the work of preaching the Gospel in Burma (now Myanmar), though he had regularly served mission stations there. These friendly relations with the Italian Barnabites were maintained, as they recognized the authority of the diocesans. Bishop Golão was succeeded by José Pinheiro, S.J., who was consecrated in 1726. He sanctioned the arrangement whereby French Jesuits were to have spiritual charge of Chandernagore, in Bengal. During his time the Barnabite mission in Burma was created a vicariate Apostolic. Bishop Pinheiro died on 15 March 1744, and was succeeded by António da Incarnacao, O.S.A., who was consecrated at Goa in 1747.

In 1746 the French marched on Madras and, making Saint Thomas their head-quarters, attacked and took Fort St. George, which they held and improved until August 1749, when they restored it to Admiral Boseawen under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Saint Thomas had been nominally a Portuguese possession from 1697, without the semblance of a military force to resist its occupation by a foreign power, as the French did when operating against Madras. To prevent a repeat of this invasion tactic Admiral Boscawen annexed the place and built a redoubt to the south-east of it, incorporating it into Madras. The British suspected that the capture of Fort St. George by the French was largely due to the information supplied to them by the French Capuchi. R. P. Rene, on whom the suspicion rested most heavily, was deported to France and the others were expelled from the fort and settled in Georgetown (Madras), where the cathedral of Madras now stands, four miles (6 km) from the cathedral of Saint Thomas.

On the death of Bishop da Incarnacão on 22 November 1752, Fre. Teodoro de Santa Maria, O.S.A., was presented for the see and confirmed by the Holy See. He belonged to the priory at Saint Thomas, but hesitated to receive episcopal consecration. Two Italian Barnabites destined for the vicariate Apostolic in Burma came with letters of commendation to the bishop-elect, who welcomed and speeded them to their destination. At last Fre. Teodoro, the bishop-elect, renounced the see into the hands of Fre. Bernardo de São Caetano, O.S.A., who was then consecrated bishop. Bishop Bernardo in turn consecrated one of the two Barnabites just mentioned, Dom Percotto, Bishop and Vicar Apostolic of Burma, in 1768. But Bishop Percotto did not reach the field of his labours, as on his voyage back to Burma the vessel foundered.

The Diocese of Saint Thomas of Mylapur was ministered to at this period by the Portuguese Franciscans, Portuguese Dominicans, Portuguese Augustinians, and Portuguese Jesuits; besides these, there were French Jesuits and Italian Barnabites working in the diocese in harmony with the ordinary, and French Capuchins defying their authority, at least occasionally. One drawback of this total manning of the diocese with the religious orders was the absolute neglect to form an indigenous clergy to meet the emergency that presently arose. For about this time the Marquess of Pombal suppressed the houses of the Society of Jesus in Portugal and thus cut off the supply of Portuguese Jesuits to the diocese. The emergency became still more acute in 1773, when Clement XIV suppressed the Society of Jesus. Withal, the situation was not quite so hopeless as to call for drastic measures in regard to the diocese from without: it was not until 1834 that the houses of the other religious orders in the Portuguese dominions were suppressed, and as the Diocese of Saint Thomas of Mylapur was situated wholly outside of Portuguese territory, nothing prevented the Portuguese religious orders from thriving there. Nevertheless, as at home vocations became fewer, the houses in India gradually died out, the last to be represented in the diocese being the Portuguese Augustinians in Bengal, the last member of the order dying in 1869.

On the extinction of a religious house in any place, the property and rights of the religious revert to the Church, as represented by the local diocesans. But Catholic Europe was so incensed against Portugal for the initiative taken by the Marquess of Pombal against the Society of Jesus, that without waiting to weigh the justice of their action in turn, reprisals became the order of the day in the Diocese of Saint Thomas of Mylapur, the Congregation de propaganda fide supporting the missionaries of other nationalities against the Portuguese. On the suppression of the Society of Jesus by the Holy See, the Fathers of the Missions étrangères of Paris were sent out to take charge of the Society's missions in the Dioceses of Saint Thomas of Mylapur and of Cochin, of which Msgr Champenois, Bishop in partibus of Dolichum, was appointed vicar Apostolic. Bishop São Caetano resented this, as he was filling up the places of the Jesuits with Indian secular missionaries from Goa; but his protests were of little avail. In course of time, as the members of the other religious orders died out, these same Indian missioners from Goa assumed charge of their churches under the order of their diocesans, though more often than not there was a dispute between them and the missionaries Apostolic. The latter did not hesitate to misrepresent the Goan missionaries to be ignorant and immoral as a whole though the diocesan seminary at Goa was conducted by the Jesuits until their suppression, and thereafter by members of the other religious orders until 1835. On the other hand, between 1652 and 1843, no less than seven of their fellow-countrymen were deemed worthy of episcopal consecration by the Crown of Portugal, the Holy See and the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, not to speak of the Venerable Joseph Vaz, who was of their race. Howbeit, since then the majority of the priests working in the diocese were Indian Secular missionaries from Goa.

Bishop São Caetano died in 1780, and was succeeded by Fre. Manuel de Jesus Maria José, O.S.A., a native of Goa and the prior of the Augustinian convent there. He was consecrated in 1788, and died at Saint Thomas in 1800. He was succeeded by Fre. Joaquim de Menezes e Ataíde, O.S.A., who was consecrated and took charge of his see by procuration in 1805, but before he could come out he was transferred to the Diocese of Funchal on Madeira. As a result, Fre. José de Garça who on the death of Bishop Jesus Maria José had been appointed administrator, continued as such until his death on 14 July 1817, when Fre. Clemente de Espírito Santo, O.S.F., was appointed administrator. During the latter's tenure of his office, Madras was visited by Dom Pedro de Alcântara, O.C., Bishop in partibus of Antipheles, 'Vicar Apostolic of the Grand Mogul' and visitor Apostolic of the French Capuchin missions, who "according to the mind of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide declared the Capuchins of Madras to be independent of the Bishop of Saint Thomas of Mylapur not alone in temporal but also in spiritual matters". But the administrator declined to accept his decision, as being a reaffirmation of the Decree of the same Sacred Congregation, which had been annulled. Fre. Clemente resigned the administration of the diocese to Fre. Manuel de Avé Maria, O.S.A., in 1820.

The British power was now paramount on the Coromandel Coast and English was universally spoken by the Indo-European population that formed the mainstay of the Catholic congregation of Madras, as all over India. Withal, the French Capuchins would not conform to the times, but continued to preach in Portuguese (which had degenerated in Madras to a patois) and Tamil, the language of the Indian Christians. As a result, many Indo-European families gave up practicing Catholicism and in time became Protestants. Finding their representations to the Capuchin prefect Apostolic unheeded, a band of young men represented the matter to the Holy See. In response the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide raised the French Capuchin prefecture into a vicariate Apostolic and sent out Dr. O'Connor, 0 S A with Irish priests, in 1828 to take over the work of the Frenchmen.